


Jeynaings

by ShutUpPercy



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-11 13:28:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5628265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShutUpPercy/pseuds/ShutUpPercy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pre-HoO platonic Jeyna in no order whatsoever. alternatively, "Katy self indulges with Roman praetors.  constantly."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cuts & Stitches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is just a quick fic based on the line "Unlike bites, werewolf claw marks wouldn't transmit lycanthropy, but Reyna knew firsthand that they healed slowly and burned like acid." (XXI Reyna BoO) which I thought had a story behind it. Obviously, that story had to involve platonic Jeyna. Characters owned by Rick Riordan.

Her screams echoed in his mind.

 

Stupid. He'd been so stupid. They'd both been so stupid. Years and years of training on how to cope with jumpscares and traps and sudden plunges of darkness, and when the latter had happened, she'd been grabbed.

 

And it was his fault. Jason Grace, praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, had made a stupid mistake and now Reyna was in serious danger of dying. And even if, somehow, he managed to rescue her or if Reyna managed to escape herself, the screams would be etched in his memory.

 

There was no point standing and panicking. As pessimistic, as unhelpful as the thought seemed, Reyna was going to die at the hands of Lycaon's followers or she wasn't. Jason had to make sure she wasn't.

 

He granted himself a few seconds, those incredibly important seconds, to calm his heartrate. The pitch darkness wasn't helping, and the screaming kept replaying in his head. Reyna didn't scream. Reyna suffered in silence - it was as much a part of her as her long braid was. If she was screaming like that, he didn't want to imagine how much pain they had inflicted on her in those short seconds, and he didn't want to imagine why it had stopped.

 

Jason forced his legs into motion, trying to go in the direction of the last sound he'd heard, trying frantically to recall what the area had looked like in the second before the blinding darkness. He took a guess and jumped at one point, feeling thankful a moment later when his foot caught on an edge that could have send him tumbling into the gods knew what if he'd stepped into it. He half-walked, half-ran through the underground lair, slipping on water and stuff he didn't want to know the contents of, listening hard for any sound other than his feet slapping the stone and water dripping down the walls.

 

When it eventually came, just a harsh breath - almost a sob, possibly a sob - he almost collapsed in relief. It was her, and she was alive. He slowed down to find the source of the strangled sounds, biting his lip. Was she guarded? Leaving Reyna Ramírez-Arellano alone would be a stupid mistake to make, but Jason had no doubt she was badly injured.

 

Trying to keep his breathing silent and his footsteps soft, he crept towards the barely audible noise. His hand was stretched in front of him in case he hit a wall, but he couldn't even see his fingers. The cold came as a shock to him - ironic for a kid who could control lightning - when he grabbed onto a thin, metal pole.

 

"Reyna?" his teeth chattering seemed louder than the whisper, but he heard movement from inside the cell, or cage, or whatever the hell was behind these bars.  
  


"J... Jason?"

 

He almost dropped his sword in his scramble to find a way through, but the cell was sealed all around. Clenching his teeth, he sliced through the bars, expecting the sword to rebound, but the Imperial Gold cut through the metal like a knife through butter. A single, tiny candle - the first light he'd seen since the darkness came - flickered sadly in a corner, only vaguely illuminating the shivering heap on the floor.

 

Reyna.

 

He was down on his knees in a second, holding a hand out as she scrabbled weakly to sit up. He could barely see her face, but her expression was contorted in pain and her skin was a lot paler than it should have been. He hid his worry as she tried to speak.

 

"Jason, you shouldn't have came," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "I would have made it out or I wouldn't - the camp needs you and you've put yourself in danger - "

 

Jason cut her off. "The camp needs you too, Reyna." He scanned her over, and winced involuntarily. The amount of blood she'd lost, and the amount of pain that he'd heard werewolf scratches caused... it was a wonder the girl was conscious. But Reyna was strong. He knew that. "This was partly my fault, and we're both gonna get out of here. Can you stand?"

 

She gave him a withering look, but gripped his arm and stumbled to her feet. As the candlelight flashed over her, Jason realised that her wounds were even worse than he'd initially thought, and this was just from them dragging his colleague to this cell - presumably to search for him afterwards. Reyna looked like she'd been through a paper shredder, and he shuddered to think of what they'd be like if she hadn't gotten out of the cell  
  


"You weren't bitten?" he asked worriedly.

 

Reyna glanced at him and managed to shake her head, though the effort looked painful. "Just scratched up," she assured him. "Well, more turned into hamburger meat than scratched, but I'm not at risk of lycanthropy." She took a shaky breath. "Thank you."

 

He blinked. "For coming to get you?" Reyna's face was paling with the exhaustion of standing, but he swallowed. "I'd never leave you, Reyna."

 

It was true. In the short years that they'd known each other, since Reyna arrived with Lupa's wolves looking so vulnerable and alone yet so fierce and brave, their relationship had been like brother and sister. Neither was more important or dominant - though Reyna could beat Jason in just about anything - and the bonds had only been reinforced through their shared praetorship. He would never let her die alone and tortured like that, and he knew without asking that she felt the same about him.

 

Reyna was trembling, leaning on him for support. "Scipio's..."

 

"Outside, yeah." He slung her arm over his shoulder, trying to only touch the parts still covered by her shredded armour. "You'll be okay, I promise. We'll get back to camp and get you stitched up and relaunch the mission with more than two people."

 

She still looked panicked. "They're looking for you just now," she pleaded. "And they'll notice I've gone, and Jason, I don't have any weapons-"

 

"Reyna, I swear to all the gods that we'll both get out of here alive." It was a risk, but he couldn't bear for either of them to die on such an insubstantial mission. They just needed to get out of the lair... but what if Reyna had been bitten? How bad were lycanthrope scratches anyway, if they were even just that? Reyna was talented at fighting through pain, and the amount she must have been going through just now for her to act like this...

 

Reyna's cloak was damp with her blood, but he wrapped it tightly around her as he grabbed the tiny candle and half-carried her towards where he thought the entrance was. She was trying her best to support herself, but she was so badly injured. So badly. Jason would fly, but he had no idea how high the ceiling of this place was, or if the wind would knock the weak candle flame out, or if it would hurt Reyna. So they walked.

 

Twice, he decapitated werewolves with the silver sword he had brought before they could so much as attack, and twice, he saw Reyna's face twist at her uselessness. He wanted to reassure her, to tell her that it wasn't her fault and point out that he would have passed out a long time ago if it had been him injured, but they needed to stay as quiet as possible.

 

Finally, he saw the light.

 

"Just a few more steps, come on, we can make it," he said encouragingly.

 

Despite her face being practically green, she glared at him. "Of course I can," she huffed, her voice a little raspy and her breath catching. "I'm not going to give... give up feet away from the entrance."

 

He felt a surge of respect for how brave she was. Losing blood like sweat, barely able to stand and getting steadily worse, and yet she found giving up unthinkable. He counted the steps under his breath, just wanting her to be safe. It was all he wanted, all he was asking for...

 

and they stepped outside into the tiny, damp courtyard, the dim sun glaring in their eyes and revealing the pallid colour of Reyna's skin - although there wasn't much of it to see from the amount of deep cuts and blood. He glanced around desperately for Scipio but the pegasus was already there, nickering worriedly and nudging Jason to get to Reyna. She tried to mutter something reassuring, but her strength was obviously fading quickly.

 

Grunting, Jason hoisted her onto the pegasus' back. She didn't protest, though she looked like she wanted to. He clambered on behind her, letting her lean against him, and murmured to Scipio to get going, and fast.

 

"Tell me about something," he said quickly, trying to get the praetor into the most comfortable position possible.

 

Reyna coughed weakly. "Is this you trying to get me to talk so I don't die on you?"

 

"Basically," Jason admitted.

 

She was absent-mindedly stroking Scipio's ears, but her hands were shaking like leaves. Scipio was trying hard to fly at a steady pace, but Reyna still flinched with every beat of his wings.

 

"You're gonna need a new cloak," he commented, running his fingers over the shredded purple fabric and trying to ignore the fact it was saturated with her blood.

 

Reyna made a face as if the thought annoyed or saddened her - with the angle she was lying and the cuts on her face, he couldn't tell which. "I was growing out of it," she said nonchalantly, but her eyebrows were still creased. Jason flashed back to the night she'd been elected, and he'd watched out of his window for hours that night as she practised walking with the thing on the street. Reyna had always been feared by the entire camp, but it was perhaps that night that he really realised how determined the girl was.

 

Eventually, he made her promise not to sleep, and stopped attempting conversation. She looked positively ill, and he couldn't take his eyes off the thick, deep slices carved into practically every inch of her skin.

 

Were the scratches poisoned, or just painful? What they'd went into as a quick duo mission had ended out of their depth, with Reyna barely able to move and in serious danger of dying. Jason still blamed himself.

 

It was only maybe twenty minutes before Scipio did a final circle and touched down on the Via Principalis, but it didn't come quickly enough for Jason. Reyna was getting worryingly paler, and he had no idea how to heal the scratches. He hoped they just caused pain - a morbid thing to hope, but it was better than poison.

 

He slipped off the pegasus and ignored Reyna's frustrated hisses as he grabbed her and carried her into his house, gently dumping her on a sofa as he ran for a medical kit and water. When he came back, she was obviously too weak to get off the couch, but had enough energy to glare at him.

 

"I can patch myself up fine," she muttered, trying to struggle out of the grip of the soft cushions and failing. It would have been a funny sight had the situation not been so dire.

 

Jason shushed her and ducked over to close the curtains. "Uh, how are you with privacy?"

 

Reyna blinked twice before she seemed to realise what he meant. "Jason," she started, her voice caustic despite her exhaustion. "I'm well aware that I could die here. I have less things to care about than you seeing my skin."

 

He wasn't sure what surprised him more - the fact she was so comfortable with him, the fact that despite the state she was in, she was still able to be dangerously sarcastic, or the fact that she realised and accepted the seriousness of the situation. He decided to ignore all three.

 

Biting his lip, he gently tugged away the shreds of her t-shirt, plastered to her with dried blood, and winced as she dug her fingernails into his wrist. The came the cleaning - over an hour trying to wash each of the many slices out with unicorn horn while Reyna fought to stay conscious, practically drawing blood from his arm with her grip.

 

The stitches, though, were the worst part. She couldn't stop shaking, and Jason felt guiltier with every cut he stitched. He stopped counting how many there were after the fourteenth.

 

Eventually, finally, he set the medical kit down and breathed properly for the first time since the lights had went out, what, over four hours ago? Reyna was still sickeningly pale to a point where, paired with the hundreds of stitches all over her body, she looked like Latina Frankenstein's monster.

 

He stood up and pulled off the plastic gloves, now red with dried blood, and Reyna opened an eye. "Is that it over?"

 

Jason didn't trust himself to speak, so he only nodded. Reyna winced and tried to sit up, making him drop the gloves on the coffee table and grab her.

 

"What the hell are you doing?"

 

She glared at him, a tiny bit of colour returning to her face. "Going back to my house?"

 

He shook his head. "You're not throwing yourself back into work after that," he said, an unfamiliar feeling of protection backing his words. His people had always been important to him, obviously, but his love and protection for Reyna was for other reasons than her skill. He genuinely loved the girl like a sister.

 

Her shoulders slumped. "Where am i supposed to go, then?" she challenged.

 

Jason sighed. "Go up to my bed and get a rest, at least. You can't even walk."

 

Seemingly taking offence at the statement, Reyna sat up again and tried to get off of the sofa, but her knees buckled. Jason huffed loudly and grabbed her shoulders, and she gave him a sheepish grin.

 

"Bed," he said firmly, helping her to her feet and leading her out of the room. The stairs obviously hurt her, but she grit her teeth and persevered, practically collapsing when they eventually reached his room with the crisp double bed.

 

He let her catch her breath as he rummaged in a drawer for a t-shirt. She looked at him curiously.

 

"Can you change on your own?"

 

The curiosity changed to scorn as she leant over and grabbed the garment from him. "Of course I can. Get out."

 

He hid a smile as he left the room and leaned against the wall, wondering how he was going to explain this to the senate. _Oh, we know we spent hours convincing you to let us go on the quest on our own, but the thing is Reyna got cut up to a point where she almost died, and it was probably my fault, and -_

 

"That's me."

 

Jason paused for a moment, wondering if it was an invitation to go back in or not, then remembered that it was his house and pushed the door open. Reyna was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling like it had insulted her. He crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to hurt her.

 

"How are you feeling?" he asked eventually, when she didn't offer a greeting.

 

She tilted her head to look at him, wincing. "Like I'm being bathed in boiling acid," she admitted. "Uh, Jason?"

 

He glanced at her. "Yeah?"

 

"Thank you, again," she said quietly. "For not leaving me there, and for spending all that time making sure I was okay, and - "

 

Jason cut her off. "I'd never leave you.  You know that."

 

She half smiled. "I do."

 

There was silence for a long time as she lay down. He was getting ready to leave, maybe get a much-needed glass of water, when Reyna opened one eye.

 

"Your t-shirt smells of cologne."

 

Jason blinked. "Uh, is that a good thing?" he asked cautiously, wondering if she was feverish.

 

She just snorted. "It's making me wonder if you've washed it since you last wore it."

 

Rolling his eyes, he sat back down. They were quiet for a while until Reyna murmured, "Can you stay? I feel like today's events won't lead to pleasant dreams."

 

Jason swallowed, but nodded. "Of course."

 

He held her hand through the nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tysm for reading!" -Katy


	2. Swordplay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm determined that the first thing they did when Reyna arrived at Camp Jupiter was fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what this is, but enjoy I guess.

“I told you not to go easy on me!”

 

Jason instinctively lowered his head until his hair brushed the gravel in the arena, the girl’s sword cold on his neck and her knee digging into his ribcage.  “I didn’t know you were  _ that _ good.”

 

Sighing, Reyna lifted her blade and tossed it to the ground, getting to her feet and extending a hand to help him up.  “Did you think my sister and I escaped from pirates with bad swordplay?” she challenged, black eyes gleaming with what could have been anger or amusement.

 

“It’s instinctive, okay?”  Jason groaned, picking tiny stones out of his palm.  “When you’ve been training at a camp like this since the age of two, you’re kind of used to being better than people.”

 

She rolled her eyes and pushed a strand of black hair behind her ear.  “Maybe if you can let go of your narcissism and actually put some effort into duelling me, I can win with a little more dignity.”

 

“Ten years at camp,” he reminded her.

 

“Pirates,” she replied sweetly, grabbing her sword and placing her feet in a position he couldn’t correct.

 

This time, he concentrated less on lazily batting her sword away and more on her movements, and felt a sense of satisfaction as Reyna’s expression changed from condescending annoyance to panicked concentration.  He smirked as he parried a blow, then took a hasty step backwards as she retaliated with her own.

 

“Either you were over-advertising yourself, or you’re still holding back,” Reyna grumbled, retreating a step and wiping her brow.

 

Jason shrugged and adjusted his grip on his sword.  “Don’t blame me when you’re injured and on the ground, then,” he said nonchalantly.

 

Reyna leapt forward again and the blades clashed in the sort of deadly dance Jason could never participate in due to a lack of skill in most of his peers.  He found himself pushing harder, using techniques he hadn’t quite perfected in an attempt to stay on his feet, but Reyna just grinned and swung her blade with the kind of raw skill he aspired to have.

 

Eventually, he decided that if she was so eager for him to give her his all, she could certainly have it.  He smirked and summoned wind, flying backwards into the air then bolting forwards so quickly that she had to drop into a roll to dodge his sword.

 

“You never said you could fly,” she grumbled, trying for a stab that he easily parried away.

 

“I’m a son of Jupiter, what did you expect?” he said triumphantly, but Reyna didn’t seem ready to give up.

 

They fought furiously for longer than he’d thought he had the stamina for, but at least Reyna’s energy seemed to be draining as well.  Not a fair comparison, really, seeing as she probably hadn’t eaten or slept recently, but anything to boost his self-esteem after this kind of competition.

 

Still, he didn’t quite expect it when he let his guard down for literally a moment and her combat boot swung into his calf and her knee slightly higher, sending Jason crashing to the ground.  He yelled in pain, and Reyna winced, stumbling over apologies as she awkwardly pulled him to his feet for the second time.

 

“I’m sorry?” she offered.  Jason would have felt bad about how pitiful her tone was if she hadn’t been failing to hide her smile.

 

He flashed her a gesture that most adults would have yelled at him for.  Flinching, he picked up his sword and glared.  “Fine.  You win.”

 

“Told you so,” she said lightly.  “Are you alright?”

 

“Of course I’m alright,” he huffed.  “I guess I owe you an apology for not believing you,” he added reluctantly.

 

Reyna tilted her head.  “Accepted,” she said, smiling slightly.

 

He would probably have stayed angrier for longer if he hadn’t noticed that at least he’d managed to injure her - a nasty-looking cut that slashed across her wrist.  Guiltily, he grabbed her hand, trying to check how much damage he’d caused, but Reyna pulled her arm back with an expression of rage.

 

“If you could not snatch at me, that would be great,” she hissed, cradling her hand and stepping way.

 

Jason spread his arms in surrender.  “We’ll get nectar when we go back.  What are the other marks?”

 

Blinking, Reyna let her sword fall to her side as she glanced at her wrists, then her eyes hardened.  “None of your business.”

 

“I was only asking.”  Jason wasn’t sure if he liked this girl as much as he’d thought he would.

 

“Rope leaves marks,” she said after a moment.  “My time on the pirate ship wasn’t as easy as I might have made it out to be.”

 

He winced involuntarily.  “Uh, nectar might help that as well,” he offered.  “They look irritating.”

 

Reyna’s brows furrowed, as if unused to concern over her well-being.  “Uh, thank you.”

 

“No problem.”  This girl with her messy braid and fierce eyes suddenly seemed a lot less invulnerable, and Jason scolded himself for being so quick to judge.  “We should probably go before someone thinks I’ve killed you up here.”

  
“Especially when it’s more likely to have been the other way around,” Reyna teased, her forlorn expression melting into something more playful as she picked up her sword and led the way from the arena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!! -Katy


	3. A Trip to Ikea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a prompt on Tumblr. As upcoming praetors, I refuse to believe they didn't have at least one Ikea visit in preparation for moving into their villas.

For two demigods who had managed to navigate a mountain and defeat a Titan and his army just weeks before, finding their way around Ikea shouldn’t have been a problem.  Apparently, department stores had a grudge against innocent Romans.

“I swear the kitchen bit was to the right,” Jason grumbled, slumping over the trolley as he resignedly scanned his surroundings.

Distracted by the displays of desks, Reyna shook her head.  “It was to the left, I swear.  Why are we even looking for the kitchen bit?  The kitchens are the one room that’s already furnished.”

Jason looked pretty dejected for a kid who was buying furniture with someone else’s money for the two-storey villa he was moving into the next week.  “I don’t even know,” he moaned.  “I just want out of this hell.”

Reyna had to laugh as she wandered over to one of the desks - or more precisely, the chair beside it.  “I like this one.”

“There’s chairs in the principia.”

“I doubt we’ll get all the work done during working hours,” Reyna said.  “Sada and Liam still struggle, and they’ve been praetors for a decade.  Anyway, the chair looks comfy.”  To prove her point, she flung herself into it, blatantly ignoring the “ _please do not touch the display furniture_ ” sign propped up beside it.

Sighing, Jason glanced at the price tag.  “We’ll get it if you push the trolley for the next ten minutes.”

“Deal.”  Satisfied, Reyna kicked the toe of her combat boot against the desk, sending the chair into a lazy spin.  When Jason smirked and leaned forward, she scrambled to get out, but he’d had a head start.  “Jason Grace, don’t you dare - ”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence as he grabbed the back of the office chair and spun it - so violently that it tipped over, Reyna and all.  Jason’s expression turned to horror as she flew off the chair, managing to stumble into a standing position without too much pain.  The chair wasn’t so lucky, flipping upside down and clattering to the floor, inches away from a fairly expensive glass cabinet.

Reyna would have yelled at him had an employee not appeared behind them, looking panicked as she surveyed the scene.  Her name tag read _Cara_.  “This store is not a playground,” she said stiffly.  Trying not to laugh, Reyna watched as Jason flushed.  “What age are you guys?”

“Sixteen,” Reyna lied easily.  “Sorry, we were trying to get it in the cart, and…”

“If you’re sixteen, why would you be in this area of the store without adults?” Cara asked, tone more pretentious than even Reyna could manage. Reyna noted with a hint of annoyance that the girl was barely older than they were - maybe in her early twenties.  “I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to leave the premises - ”

Guiltily, Jason picked up the chair.  “Please don’t,” he said, utilising every drop of his I’m-a-fairly-hot-American-boy-that-doesn’t-look-like-a-troublemaker-and-you-can-trust-me privileges.  “We’re moving into a flat for college soon; I don’t think your manager would be happy losing six hundred dollars because of an accident with a chair we’re buying anyway.”  He gestured at the trolley behind them.

Conflicted, Cara gave the cart a fleeting look, and checked the floor for any other damage.  “Fine,” she said, reluctantly, before scrutinising Reyna’s chest.  For a second, Reyna had the unsettling feeling of being checked out - and from the way Jason tensed, he thought the same - but she remembered she was wearing her camp shirt at the same time as Cara spoke.  “Jupiter… he’s, like, a Roman god, right?”

Jason almost fell into another chair, and Reyna decided she’d be the best at talking this out.  “Yeah.  They were from a con earlier.”

“A mythology convention?  Or Ancient Rome?” Cara asked, eyebrow raised.

“Uh, Ancient Rome,” Reyna clarified, struggling to contain laughter.  “It was a one-off thing, down south.  I don’t think they’ll hold another.”

The events from earlier had apparently been forgiven as Clara’s eyes lit up.  “I did a major in history,” she said excitedly.  She pointed to the tattoo on Jason’s arm.  “You know some people say that the actual SPQR tattoos were burned on?”

Coughing, Jason took a couple of seconds to recover enough to reply.  “Yeah.  Um.  These are just permanent marker,” he said hurriedly.

Cara nodded slowly, bemused at his discomfort.  “Cool.  I should, uh, have a nice day.”  With that, she turned on her heel and began to walk quickly away.

When she was out of earshot, Jason blinked.  “ _She_ should have a nice day?”

“I think you freaked her out,” Reyna snorted.

“Ancient Rome-con?  Really?”  Jason sighed.  “Maybe camp shirts aren’t the best things to wear on Ikea outings.”

“Definitely not,” Reyna agreed.  “Do I still have to push the trolley?”

“You bet.”

Thankfully, no one else knew enough about mythology to approach them again, but Reyna still noticed Jason zipping up his hoodie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is pretty (very) short, but thanks for reading! and as always, I really appreciate comments <3


	4. Forts and Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's, like, one thing I prefer to platonic Jeyna, and it's platonic Jeyna yelling at each other.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Jason insisted, distraught gaze flicking between the wreckage in front of him and the praetor, Sada’s figure as she disappeared into the distance.

Reyna didn’t bother to hide how angry she was as she crossed her arms and kicked aside a smouldering plank of wood.  “You literally set it on fire,” she reminded him. Her cheeks were still flushed from the lecture Sada had given them; Jason might have been used to getting into scuffles right and left, but Reyna hated going against authority - even if she’d had _nothing_ to do with this.

Jason didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed.  “I don’t have control over my powers yet,” he snapped back.  “What do you think I train for every morning of my life?”

“I don’t care,” Reyna growled, turning on her heel and marching towards the storage buildings.  She was likely pushing the level of insolence she could show to the son of Jupiter - most people turned a blind eye when it came to her, grudgingly accepting that Jason needed at least one friend on his level - but she was too furious to tone it down.  “You set fire to one of the forts that’s needed for the war games in _forty minute_ s, and you’re denying that you did so even as the evidence sits under your nose.  We have less than an hour to rebuild this thing, and I think we both know who’ll get it in the neck if we don’t do it properly.”

Finally, he winced.  “Okay, it wasn’t _your_ fault,” he relented.  “I’ll stand up for you if anyone blames you for it.”

Shaking her head, Reyna sighed.  “No.  We’ll just get this over and done with so that no defence is necessary.”

“Except the defence offered by the fort?” Jason offered, smiling slightly.

Fists clenched to avoid his grin mirroring itself on her face, Reyna kept walking.  “I didn’t ask for cheek.”

Ensuring he took charge of all the heavier or more awkward supplies out of pure spite, Reyna led the way back to where the fort had once stood.  Her rage was subsiding, but she didn’t let it show as she silently pointed Jason towards one area and got to work herself on another.  He didn’t protest, instead grudgingly obeying her judgement.  Reyna had always been better at building things, anyway.

They worked fluidly, instinctively knowing what positions they’d be best at, and time flew.  They’d barely finished when Sada’s shadow appeared behind them, and Reyna hid a smirk of satisfaction when Jason jumped.

“Nice work,” she admitted.

Reyna kicked a plank of wood into place as Jason glanced up furtively.  Sada glanced over the newly-built fort again, before letting her eyes meet the campers’.

“Reyna, please don’t provoke Jason near flammable items.  It doesn’t end well,” she said lightly.  Reyna managed a laugh as the praetor turned to the son of Jupiter.  “And Jason - stable duty for a week for letting her take any of the blame.  Honestly.  I thought you were better than that.”

Laughing out loud this time, Reyna watched as Jason shifted sheepishly.  “I couldn’t have done it myself in forty minutes,” he defended.

“I didn’t expect you to.”  Sada allowed herself a smile.  “Right.  You’ve still got five minutes to get armoured up and try and redeem yourselves in the war games; I’d hurry up if I were you.”

Jason glanced towards Reyna, his expression silently judging whether he’d permanently messed anything up in their friendship.  She bit back a stab of guilt as she grinned.  “Race you.”

Any anger she still felt disappeared with his relieved smile - and the satisfaction of when she beat him to the barracks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was also from a Tumblr prompt so it's also just a drabble, but it doesn't mean I wouldn't love a little feedback ;) thanks for reading!


	5. Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was going to add to the many who have written entire Jeyna prologue fics, then I never finished it. Here's the start, anyway.

Five years of training, and the most useful thing Jason had learned was how to contain his annoyance when someone took him away from sword practise.

At least he was able to utilise the skill often.

Okay, a girl with a dark braid and ragged jeans standing beside Lupa on the other side of the Little Tiber was a pretty important event - for the girl anyway - but did everyone really have to run to him? There were two trained praetors for the camp already; despite Jason being next in line due to his parentage (a fact he was still bitter about) he wasn’t in charge of the camp just yet.

Sighing, he thanked the camper and flipped his sword. The twelfth birthday present from his dad melted back into a gold coin, which he pocketed. Jason’s dad being Jupiter, Roman god of the sky, meant that his presents could do that sort of thing.

He wondered where Sada was, and why she wasn’t handling this new kid. Liam was probably working in the city somewhere - maybe Sada was with him. They’d been doing that lately; surreptitiously leaving the main camp for hours at a time, leaving Jason to deal with the minor incidents that occurred every day. Neither of the praetors ever owned up to it, but Jason was pretty sure that the disappearances were tests for him.

He swallowed and followed the camper out of the arena, jogging to catch up. “Where is she?” he called.

“Just beside the bridge near Fifth,” the kid replied over their shoulder, looking eager to get back to whatever they’d been doing before they’d been sent to get Jason. He hated that. He hated the respect and discomfort in kids that were his age and olders’ eyes when they had to talk to him, just because his father was the head of the gods. This camp was for demigods and legacies - it wasn’t as if he was different in that respect. Nope. Just the fact that his dad was one god in particular.

Jason broke into a run as he made his way across the camp and down the hill to the river. A couple of armoured kids stood uneasily at the bank, glaring across the water at the wolf and the girl as if they were the enemy. Even from the distance he was at, he could tell the wolf was Lupa. He felt a pang of annoyance that the two campers were so distrustful.

A few seconds later, he arrived at the riverbank. Lupa tilted her head like, took you long enough.

Jason gave the wolf goddess an apologetic glance and turned his attention to the girl. She was around his age and tall, with eyes that glinted obsidian in the sunlight. Her hair was a deep black, and braided messily over her shoulder.

“Could you go find Sada or Liam? I think they’re in the city,” Jason directed at the two campers. They nodded and headed off.

Lupa turned to the girl, and they had one of the silent conversations that Jason had spent two years communicating in. After a minute, she disappeared back into the woods.

“There’s a bridge about a hundred feet up, or you could swim over,” Jason offered.

The girl gave him a withering look. “I think I’ll take the bridge,” she said. Her voice was loud, a little deep, with a hint of an accent.

He nodded, and began to walk towards the stone bridge. The girl followed him. Despite her stained, torn t-shirt and the way her jeans were shredded to a point where Jason was surprised they were holding together, despite the fact she had probably left family and friends behind to come here, despite the fact that she was likely to be completely alone now, she held her back straight and her head high. Jason immediately respected her.

“I guess I can cross?” she called over when she reached the foot of the crossing.

“Assuming you’re not going to blow up the camp, yes,” he replied. She nodded once and made her way across the stones quickly.

Up close, she looked a lot more regal. There was a thin cut along her cheek, and her eyes were narrowed as if expecting an attack.

Jason studied her for a second. “What’s your name?”

“What’s yours?”

He paused. “Jason.”

She nodded. “I’m Reyna.”

Jason offered his hand, and Reyna only hesitated for a moment before shaking it.

“I assume you know why you’re here?” he asked, turning and beginning to walk up the grass to the principia. Hopefully, one or both of the praetors would be there by the time we arrived.

Reyna gave him another mildly irritated look. “Would I be here if I didn’t?”

“Probably not,” he admitted, containing a huff of frustration. “We’re going to the principia in the main camp, to introduce you to the praetors and get you registered and such.”

They walked in silence for a while before Reyna spoke. “Lupa said something about, uh, letters of reference? I don’t have anything. The situation I ended up in the Wolf House from wasn’t exactly one in which anyone could write me a CV.”

“If you can explain the situation to Sada and Liam, I’m sure it will be fine,” Jason assured her, before glancing up at the building they now stood in front of. “We’re here.”

Reyna hid any nerves she may have had very well as she climbed the steps, Jason just behind her.

“So you’d be the new girl?” Sada stood from behind the long wooden table that took up most of the principia, grabbing a stack of forms and a pen.

Reyna nodded. “Yup.”

Sada took her in. “Right. I’m one of the praetors of the camp, and one of the people that will get a say in whether you can stay or not.” If Reyna was disturbed by this statement, she didn’t show it. “If I can get you to fill this out?” She slid a slip of paper and a blue pen across the desk.

Reyna nodded again and bent over the desk. For a few minutes, there was silence except for the sound of the pen the page and Sada rummaging through files. Eventually, she straightened up again. “Done.”

Jason peered over her shoulder. “Reyna… Avila Ramírez-Arellano?” he tried.

The tension in the room shifted like lightning. Reyna’s expression turned murderous in an instant. “That was the name of a little girl in San Juan,” she snapped. “I left it behind when I left Puerto Rico.”

He began to protest, to explain that he’d only been trying to pronounce it, but Sada’s eyes caught his as she took the form from Reyna. Leave it.

“You don’t have any letters?” the praetor asked out loud.

“Due to the circumstances I left in, I don’t,” Reyna replied smoothly.

Sada bit her lip. She was twenty-seven, not the tallest of women but not exactly short either. Her hair was dark, wavy and tucked under a hijab. Her deep brown eyes were stern but gentle, almost motherly; fitting considering she’d been the closest Jason had ever had to a mother since he was two years old. “Can you explain those circumstances?”

Reyna paused, and glanced at Jason. “Does he have to be here?”

“Jason is a son of Jupiter, and highly likely to be the next praetor of the legion once I and my colleague retire,” Sada answered, without missing a beat. “If you are highly uncomfortable with him being here, then that’s a different matter, but I would prefer-”

Reyna sighed and shook her head. “It’s fine.” When Sada didn’t say anything else, she took it as a cue to start her story, casting a wary glance at Jason. “I was born in Puerto Rico, as I said. My sister and I are daughters of Bellona.” She flicked her hand, showing a silver ring that Jason hadn’t noticed before. Sure enough, etched on it was the symbol of the war goddess. “There was, uh, an incident…” Reyna’s voice faltered for the first time, but she quickly gathered herself. “We ended up on Circe’s Island - my sister thought it was the best way to keep me safe. We were there until a few months ago, when two kids managed to set the pirates free. They basically burned the entire spa down. Circe was too busy trying to keep the employees alive to write letters of recommendation.”

Behind Jason, the door opened. Sada’s hard expression softened a little as her colleague entered the room, but she gestured for Reyna to keep talking.

“Hylla and I ended up on the pirates’ ship. We probably would have died there, but we learned to fight. I think they let us off because the alternative was to have their ship taken over.” Reyna smiled a little. “Soon after that, well, my sister and I separated. I washed up at the Wolf House.”

Liam picked up the form and scanned over it. “You said your sister’s name is Hylla? Do you know what happened to her?”

“I think… she mentioned something about Amazons,” Reyna said reluctantly.

Sada’s head snapped up. “I take it you obviously haven’t heard from her since you parted?”

Reyna’s brow creased. “You know her?”

“Know of her,” Sada explained, smiling slightly. “Your sister made it to the Amazons, and is now queen of the group, which means…” She pulled a laptop across the desk and began typing. “Assuming you didn’t have some sort of major argument before she left, we can get a pretty good recommendation from her.”

Looking the happiest she’d been since that morning, Reyna nodded. “We, uh, didn’t fight or anything. That would be great.”

“That’s all settled, then.” Liam took a seat in one of the two tall chairs behind the desk. “Obviously, we’ll have to discuss it with the senate, but for now…” he glanced at Sada, who shrugged. “That’s that. Jason, go take the poor girl to get cleaned up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in like December while off school then never added to it, whoops. I'd still appreciate feedback though hehe, and thank you for reading!!


	6. Locking Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hugging and held grudges about hot chocolate.

“Don’t I get a goodnight hug?”

Reyna raised an eyebrow, slinging her cloak over her arm and shouldering a filing cabinet shut. “You spilled hot chocolate all over my papers,” she said haughtily, pretending to hold a grudge for the incident. “I don’t think you deserve one.”

Pouting, Jason stood his ground by the principia door. It was dark now, and the frame glowed a deep blue that looked almost eery in the dim light of the single lamp still switched on. “Not only was I the one who bought you that hot chocolate, but I filled in the new copies of the papers I spilt it on.”

“It doesn’t erase the fact that you spilled it.” As hard as she tried for a tone of belligerence, she could feel the corners of her mouth lift in the way she could never help when Jason looked at her like with that smile.

“It kinda does.”

She allowed the smirk to spread across her lips - Reyna’s poker face was perfected for every circumstance except those where she wanted to laugh at Jason’s antics. She really needed to work on that. “Still doesn’t mean you deserve a hug,” she said, even as she allowed her cloak to slide onto the desk and stepped forward.

Jason’s embrace was perhaps the biggest comfort she had excluding her sister, and they hugged enough that she was familiar with the hard muscles under his purple t-shirts and the mingling scent of his cheap cologne and shampoo. Prophecies had urged her to keep her distance - or maybe that was just her unbidden fear of said prophecies - but platonic love was different, right? At least, this hug and all the others they had shared was totally platonic, whatever their relationship in the future might switch to.

They’d grown up, matured since Reyna had arrived three years ago with tangled hair and armed only with a dagger and a dangerous amount of sarcasm against the initially well-meaning son of Jupiter, but much of their contact still ended in competition. She’d never thought hugs could be violent, but Jason snorted as he did his best to break her ribs and she hissed a curse, only half joking, into his ear as her nails dug a little too hard into his shoulders.

“I will wrestle you to the ground if you don’t let go of me right now, Jason Grace,” she warned, pulling her arms up to elbow his back.

“Ah, but if you do that, you’ll owe me another hot chocolate,” he said. She couldn’t see his face, but it was easy enough to imagine the smirk it held.

Jerking her arms up so that Jason’s twisted into a position that looked fairly painful, she drew back and grinned. “And if you keep turning all of our hugs into wrestling matches, I will buy you that hot chocolate and pour it over your head.”

Jason struggled to get out of her grip, but Reyna had been practising this move for weeks and wasn’t quite prepared to let go yet. “Can we compromise and say you just have to stop before you break my arms?”

“Fine.” Reyna held her grip for a few more satisfactory seconds before freeing her friend. “And don’t blame me. You started that. I went in for a completely innocent hug.”

“Don’t you dare deny that you’d have made it aggressive if I hadn’t.”

“Don’t you dare presume my actions,” Reyna retaliated, failing to keep the laughter out of her voice. “Night, Jason.”

“I’m going to throw rocks across to your window at three o’clock,” he said, miffed.

Reyna shrugged. “You can have fun doing that. I’m going to bed, and I have the keys, so get out.”

Apparently Jason was about as bad at hiding his amusement as she was, because he burst out laughing as he dodged out of the principia. Reyna couldn’t help smiling as she locked the doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point I'm just using this story to dump all my stuff from Tumblr, but here you go. Thanks for reading, and as always, despite the tiny word count, I appreciate feedback!


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